Thursday, December 20, 2007
State Department: no system for judging roadmap compliance, Israel can defend itself from rocket attacks but...

[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: "Certainly, Israel has a right to defend itself,
but we also want to make sure that, as always, any actions Israel takes it's
cognizant to the potential consequences of those actions." = Israel
doesn't has to allow its citizens to be killed unnecessarily - but hey, if
stopping Palestinians from killing Israelis might hurt the "peace process"
then that's an altogether different matter.

What would the United States say if another country were to state that
"Certainly, the United States has a right to defend itself, but we also want
to make sure that, as always, any actions America takes it's cognizant to
the potential consequences of those actions." ?]

============================
Daily Press Briefing
Tom Casey, Deputy State Department Spokesman
Washington, DC
December 19, 2007
TRANSCRIPT:
12:39 p.m. EST
www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2007/dec/97857.htm
...

QUESTION: On another subject, has the U.S. set up a specific system to
monitor and judge whether the Israelis and the Palestinians are sticking to
their commitments under the roadmap and various other --

MR. CASEY: Well, I think the roadmap is fairly self-explanatory. Certainly,
we're going to be working with them closely. We have a number of people
there working on various aspects related to that, from Tony Blair, who is of
course working on Palestinian institution building, to General Jones who
will be looking at some of the security structures. But I couldn't tell you,
Sue, that there is someone sitting out there with a specific report card or
check box that's --

QUESTION: Like a red, yellow and a green card?

MR. CASEY: Yeah, I don't think -- I don't think we have that kind of system
in place.

QUESTION: Speaking of General Jones, what are his plans, you know, travel?

MR. CASEY: That's a good question, Matt. You know, I don't think we've ever
gotten an update on him. We'll try and get something for you guys a little
later.

QUESTION: He's still there, though, right?

MR. CASEY: As far as I know, yeah.

QUESTION: On the same subject, does the United States regard the Israeli
military actions in Gaza as consistent with the spirit of and intent of
Annapolis?

MR. CASEY: Well, again, James, I think we're all aware of the problems that
exist in Gaza, particularly the continued rocket attacks on Israel.
Certainly, Israel has a right to defend itself, but we also want to make
sure that, as always, any actions Israel takes it's cognizant to the
potential consequences of those actions.
...
Released on December 19, 2007

http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=37296


[File under "Israel and its friend" or "with a friend like this, who needs . . . " Leslie White]